Move over açaí – the Amazon has more ‘superfoods’ to offer

In a laboratory in a renovated warehouse on the banks of a rushing brown river in Belem, Brazil, machines are crushing candidates for the next global “superfood.”

Cupuacu… Tapereba… Bakaba… Like acai berries, these fruits are rich in antioxidants, fiber and fatty acids.

If Brazil has its way, they could soon be popping up on your social media feeds and being sold in trendy cafes in the UK, Europe and the US.

It is part of the country's bold plan, which hosts the UN COP30 climate talks, to tackle climate change, protect nature and create wealth in the face of significant regional poverty.

“There are a lot of superfoods in the forest that people don't know about,” says Max Petrucci, founder of local company Mahta, which sells cocoa powder and Brazil nuts for smoothies.

The drink he gives me to try is hard and tastes like chocolate without sugar.

“We are primarily focused on the nutrition and health benefits that these Amazonian ingredients provide,” he explains.

But the second benefit, he explains, is “social and environmental.” He says they pay fair prices and only buy from farmers who practice sustainable agriculture.

It sounds like a marketing ploy, and the company's attractive packaging promises “heirloom ingredients” and “the power of purple forest fruit.”

Scientific research on the benefits of “superfoods” is limited, but Eating Amazonian fruits is believed to have health benefits.

Larissa Bueno, also from Machta, explains that they only sell powdered products – “similar to Huel in the UK,” she says.

Transporting raw fruit, which spoils within days of being picked, is expensive. But if companies freeze the dry ingredients into powders to sell in supermarkets or ship overseas, “that retains more nutritional value and is a smart way to retain more economic value in Brazil,” she explains.

The laboratory at the Bioeconomic Park of Belém helps small companies test new ways of preserving fruit.

“People have been eating food from these forests for more than 10,000 years. There are many, many, many undiscovered superfoods,” says Max.

The Amazon rainforest, covering an area of ​​6 million square kilometers (2.3 million square miles), has always been full of natural resources. But over the decades, its vast ecosystem has declined, with areas cleared to sell timber or make way for livestock or crops such as soybeans.

This has damaged one of Earth's greatest defenses against climate change – trees, which absorb carbon dioxide that is causing the planet to warm.

Unusual, More than two-thirds of Brazil's greenhouse gas emissions come from land use and agriculture.and not energy, as in most countries. These emissions are mainly due to deforestation or growing huge quantities of food.

President Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva has pledged to halve deforestation by 2030. In the 12 months to July 2025, the pace hit an 11-year low.

But the forest is a resource. Almost 30 million people living in the Amazon region and throughout Brazil need and want to make a living.

Brazil promotes the vision of building a prosperous economy through the sustainable use of natural resources, conservation to protect the vitality of the earth and the development of valuable products including fuels, pharmaceuticals and food.

The creation of this “bio-economy” is central to the national climate action plan.

Sara Sampaio runs a small coffee company that grows coffee beans under the shade of trees, using a method called agroforestry—or agriculture that helps grow forests.

She works with about 200 farming families in the Apui region, which has one of the highest rates of deforestation.

“We plant native Amazonian trees and coffee together. The trees shade the coffee plants and farmers can also grow their own food around the plants,” she says.

“When the coffee plant dies, the trees remain as forest, and that helps restore the Amazon.”

The fresh drink they give me has a light fruity taste, and she is proud that three of her coffees were among the top 30 in Brazil in the national Coffee of the Year competition.

“If we want to prevent more trees from being cut down, we need to provide people with an alternative income, a sustainable lifestyle,” says Sarah.

Whatever the next Amazonian superfood is, it will have to challenge acai. The purple berry is grown and eaten in huge quantities in northern Brazil, and in some parts of London it sells for almost £10 ($13) per smoothie bowl.

Damien Benoit sells acai ice cream in Europe. “It's very high in antioxidants, fiber and unsaturated fatty acids, as well as various minerals, making it very popular among people who exercise,” he says.

He works with families who grow four hectares of acai plants in the forest “with a minimal number of species per hectare to monitor.”

“We make sure children go to school, and gender equality is a huge topic for us,” he asserts.

These small companies cannot feed millions of people on their own, and until now they have thrived on grants or capital from charities and foundations that invest in companies dedicated to protecting the environment.

And there are questions about how much they can be scaled.

If acai production were to spread to many industrial-sized plantations, it could start to cause exactly the same problems that people like Damien are trying to solve.

But there is a reason why the word “bioeconomy” is used in all UN climate negotiations.

“We need to move away from a fossil fuel-dependent world, that much is clear,” says Ana Young, director of the Center for Environment and Society at Chatham House.

“And if we don't have bio-based solutions, we won't be able to do that,” she says.

This is by no means a magic solution to replacing fossil fuels with clean energy and using the earth in a way that protects nature.

Brazil has also pledged to quadruple its use of biofuels by 2035, which may be controversial. Biofuels such as ethanol are often touted as a replacement for fossil fuels, but they can lead to deforestation as the need to burn crops to produce fuel increases.

Some are concerned that this will lead to unsustainable harvesting of timber or sugar cane for export overseas and burning, as well as the theft of indigenous lands.

Ms Yang says it is vital to provide safeguards such as strong regulation.

“Not all bio-based transitions are good,” she says.

“If they cause destruction of natural habitats or don't have good social practices, then that doesn't solve the original problem.”